Neko Atsume

About

Neko Atsume (Japanese: ねこあつめ; English: Cat Collection), also known in English as Kitty Collector, is a mobile game and app created by game developer Hit-Point for iOS and Android. Although the game was originally only available in Japanese with no plans for English translation, the game gained unexpected popularity in both Japan and the West, resulting in the game eventually being translated.

Gameplay

The game features a simple formula in which the goal is to attract cats using a variety of foods, toys and furniture. The game’s various cats are attracted by different toys, with certain cats only appearing when specific toys are deployed by the player. Other special cats with more unique characteristics will only appear when using certain toys or furniture. When the cats appear, the player can watch them, take photos of them, and receive gifts from them.

The game’s currency consists of regular fish and the more rare gold fish, both which are given to the player by the cats after they leave. These fish can then be used to purchase more toys and furniture or even new rooms in the house. The game has no end – the closest thing to a goal is a complete collection of photographs in the provided photo album – but cats will continue to appear indefinitely as long as the player puts out food for them.

History

Neko Atsume^[6] was first released only as a Japanese game on October 20th, 2014, by Hit Point Co. Ltd.^[7] Originally it was a game intended to feature a “look and enjoy” style for players who like cats, according to the game’s developer Yutaka Takasaki.^[1]

Since its release, the game has stayed true to its formula, with any updates mostly featuring new cats and items. Initially the game was only available in Japanese. However, after release, the game developers discovered that up to 40% of the game’s downloads were by Western users, and decided to release a translated version on October 30th, 2015, in version 1.4.5.

Film Adaptation

On January 13th, 2017, AMG Entertainment released an official poster and a teaser trailer for Neko Atsume no le^[22] (literal translation: Cat Collection’s House), a Japanese live-action romance comedy film based on the mobile game. The movie follows the story of Masaru Sakamoto (portrayed by Atsushi Ito), a best-selling novelist who decides to go on a writer’s retreat in the countryside to overcome his writer’s block. There, he befriends a stray cat by leaving food out for it, and soon his house is flooded with cats.

Directed by Masatoshi Kurakata and starring other well-known Japanese actors, including Shiori Kutsuna, Tomorowo Taguchi, Tae Kimura, Kayoko Okubo and Masahiro Toda, the film is slated for box office release in Japan on April 8th, 2017, according to Crunchyroll and Kotaku.^[23] As of January 23rd, 2017, no plans have been announced for international distribution.

Reception

According to the game’s developer Yutaka Takasaki, Neko Atsume has easily become the most popular game by his company Hit Point Co. Ltd. since it was founded in 2007.^[2] By July 2015, the game had received over 5.5 million downloads since its release on iOS and Android combined.^[2] Up to 40% of the downloads came from the West despite the game having no English translation at the time, and this increased to 6.5 million downloads by September.^[5] On August 27th, 2015, Neko Atsume won the CEDEC Award for best game design.^[3]^[4]

Google Live Video Event

On September 15th, 2015, Google and Hit-Point teamed up for Google’s Game Week with Google Play in a live 11-hour long video event called Real Neko Atsume (リアルねこあつめ),^[10] which was broadcasted on YouTube from a Cat café in Osaka, Japan (shown below). The event featured a video stream in which cats were released in a setting similar to Neko Atsume, allowing viewers to watch as the cats interacted with the items laid out for them. Despite being a Japanese event, Western media also reported on it with articles in Polygon,^[8] PR Newswire^[5] and the Verge.^[9]

Online Presence

Prior to the game’s official translation to English, many Western fans of the game already created guides for the game to allow those unfamiliar with Japanese to play; many of these pointed out how the in-game iconography allowed for easy accessibility. Guides can be found on Wordpress,^[11] Playoholic,^[12] Gameskinny,^[13] Vulcanpost^[14] and Forfoxsake.^[15]

Along with game play, fans of the game often share pictures of their favorite cats and draw fanart of the game. The r/nekoatsume sub-reddit^[16] was created on April 12th, 2015, and gathered over 5,000 subscribers in the next 6 months. As of November 25th, 2015, the game has over 870 and 110 pieces of fanart on Pixiv^[17] and DeviantArt^[18] respectively. Fan content can also be found on Tumblr.^[19] On March 22nd, 2015, Twitter user @102_55^[20] posted a tweet with a piece of fanart featuring Sad Keanu (shown below, left); on April 11th of that year, Twitter user @Cafe_Reissue^[21] uploaded a picture of Latte Art featuring Neko Atsume (shown below, right). As of November 25th of that year, the tweets managed to gather over 25,000 and 16,000 retweets respectively.